Creating the Emotionally Intelligent Workplace

Our lives are a kaleidoscope of up to 500 emotional experiences per day. We may only be conscious of a fraction of them at any one time, but they color every interaction.

With this understanding comes a recognition of the need to navigate these emotions in the workplace, meaning that emotional intelligence (EI) has become a core skill set for high-performing organizations and outstanding leaders today.

Decades of research support the importance of “soft skills,” but EI matters now more than ever. This article discusses the drivers that have pushed this measure of intelligence to the forefront, and describes how organizations are boosting their collective EI—from recruiting the right talent to better assessing and teaching EI.

But there’s another side to the emotional intelligence story. It’s increasingly understood that the workplace and its many touchpoints play a key role in allowing people to bring their full spectrum of emotions to work. For organizations looking for a place to start, practices such as experience design can help uncover workforce needs and motivations, as well as identify ways to enhance the employee journey.

With insights from psychologist Daniel Goleman and Professor Cary Cooper of Manchester Business School, this article takes a deep dive into emotional intelligence, which is fast becoming a highly sought-out employee skill set and an important facet of a well-designed, human-centric workplace.

To go further

About the 2018 Global Workplace Trends

Every year, Sodexo looks at the main factors affecting the world’s workers and employers now — and in the future. These trends resonate across the spectrum of employee experience and can serve as a useful tool for employers navigating a landscape that is ever evolving.

Get the seven trends overview

Other trends that might interest you

In an environment of constant progress, more organizations are questioning how future technology could impact their operations. More so than almost any other development, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers immediate improvements to the employee experience, from enhanced organization to more efficient facility management that boosts productivity.

While new technologies have delivered significant benefits, workplace complexity continues to rise and global employee engagement levels remain low. As organizations look for ways to simplify interactions and reduce overload, the employee experience has come into focus as a key area for improvement—and Human Capital Management (HCM) is increasingly being leveraged as a solution.

2017 marked the first full year with Generation Z in the workforce—a cohort typically defined as being born between 1995 and 2012. As these new employees set their sights on becoming future movers and shakers, organizations need to know what Gen Z brings to the workplace in order to foster the vibrant multi-generational mix that every enterprise depends upon.

Faced with an often difficult “new normal” in the post-2008 economic sphere, both individuals and corporations are re-examining how their resources are used. Out of this has grown a “sharing” or “gig” economy; one that eschews traditional ownership to promote maximum efficiency of labor and materials.

For much of the recent past, business has taken a more direct approach to improving diversity in the workforce, particularly when it comes to addressing gender imbalances on teams. Now, with a growing awareness around the unique challenges faced by women in the workplace—and because of the significant value generated by improved diversity—it’s clear that the focus of diversity needs to include not only making the numbers add up but also instilling a true feeling of belonging and inclusion.

To succeed in today’s business world, organizations need to become involved in more than just economics—they also need to become actors of change around large-scale environmental and social problems. However, responsible business is being nudged forward not only through business case logic, but because employees increasingly expect their employers to act responsibly.